Who Invented the Microcomputer?
The first microcomputer was invented by a team led by Bill Pentz at Sacramento State University in 1972. It was called the Sac State 8008. However, other models of the microcomputer were more successful and set off the industry, such as the Altair 8800 and TRS-80.
The Sac State 8008 never met fame, and other models began to dominate the market instead. The Altair 8800, designed by the Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems group in Albuquerque, N.M., was powered by the Intel 8080 microchip and was introduced to the mass market in 1975. It didn’t have memory, keyboard or screen, and inputs were entered from a toggle panel. The Altair 8800 led to the introduction of other microcomputers, such as the TRS-80 or Model I, which Radio Shack introduced in 1977.
